Apparatus for compacting a mass of granular material

ABSTRACT

This invention relates to methods of and apparatus for compacting ground, roads and the like. The preferred apparatus comprises a road roller having small diameter ground engaging rolls rolling around a cylindrical backup roll located at the front of the road roller.

United States Patent 1 1 3,603,226

[72] Inventor Jacob Marcovitch [51] Int. Cl EOlc 19/26 Johannesburg, South Africa [50] Field of Search 94/50 21 A I. No. 836,707 i 1 Fi l d June 26, 1969 1 References Clted I Division ol'Ser. No. 615,613, Feb. 13, 1967, UNITED STATES PATENTS Pat. No. 3533159 l,955,224 4/1934 Brown 94/50 [45] Patented Sept. 7, 1971 2.484385 10/1949 Greiner 94/50 [73] Assignee Rotary Profile Anstalt 2,938,439 5/1960 Robison 94/50 Vaduz, Liechtenstein 3,269,285 8/1966 Lathers 94/50 [32] Priority Feb. 14, 1966 3,276,337 10/1966 Gardner 94/50 [33] South Africa 3,483,806 12/1969 Williamson 94/50 [3] l 66/804 Primary Examiner-Jacob L. Nackenoff Attorney-Young & Thompson ABSIRA t th d APPARATUS FOR COMPAGING A MASS 0F aratus foiorm ct i r dz d l zaz s fld t lie 1?: of an ap TERIAL P P g g g The preferred apparatus compnses a road roller havmg small diameter ground engaging rolls rolling around a cylindri- {52} US. Cl 94/50 cal backup roll located at the front of the road roller.

PATENTEU SEP 7197: 3.603.226

(#2005 M/zlewwrcl APPARATUS FOR COMPACTING A MASS OF GRANULAR MATERIAL This application is divided from my copending application Ser. No. 6l5,6l3 filed Feb. 13, 1967 and entitled PROFIL- ING OF WORKPIECES," now US. Pat. No. 3,533,259.

This invention relates to apparatus for compacting a mass of granular material which mass may be the ground or a road or concrete bodies before these concrete bodies have set.

It is an object of the invention to provide such apparatus which can apply a very high degree of compaction to the mass. it is a further object of the invention to provide apparatus which will knead or pummel the mass progressively along its surface.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing is a diagrammatic side view of a road roller embodying the invention.

Referring now to the drawing there is shown a road roller 11 having a body 12 carried at its rear end by ground engaging wheels 14 and having at its front end a large backup roll 15. A number of small compacting rolls l6 lie in contact with the backup roll 15. These rolls 16 roll in line contact on and orbit the backup roll and are held in relation thereto by any con ventional means. The orbital rolls are well known in the steel mill rolling art, in which small rolls are connected together by a cage and orbit around a backup roll, as described for example in The Rolling of Strip, Sheet and Plate", by E. C. Larke, 2nd Edition, Chapman & Hall, at pages 6l-65, and references cited therein. By the orbiting of the rolls 16 is meant that their axes follow a path 18 about backup roll 15, at the same time that the rolls 16 rotate about their own axes. The speed and direction of movement of these rolls 16 is independent of the speed and direction of the road roller 1 l.

The weight of the road roller 11 causes the backup roll 15 to be forced under gravity towards the ground under considerable pressure and this is in turn transferred to the smaller diameter rolls 16 which thus apply a localized high intensity pressure to the surface of a road 17 to compact the road 17.

Locking means may be provided so that when the road roller crosses a very soft terrain the rolls 16 may be locked to the backup roll 15.

The compacting rolls 16, as they make Contact with the surface of the road 17, knead or pummel it progressively along its surface. The result is that the force applied to the road surface over a small area generates very high pressures, although the force is itself not of great magnitude and if applied over all but a small surface area of the road would produce no significant effect. The progressive production of the high pressures along the surface causes high compaction of the earth and densities it to better effect than is possible by vibration or tamping,

I claim:

1. Apparatus for compacting a mass of granular material comprising a vehicle body, ground engaging wheels at one end of the body, a backup roll carried by the body at the other end thereof, a plurality of compacting rolls of smaller diameter than the backup roll, orbiting the backup roll in line contact therewith and successively engaging the mass to compact it. 

1. Apparatus for compacting a mass of granular material comprising a vehicle body, ground engaging wheels at one end of the body, a backup roll carried by the body at the other end thereof, a plurality of compacting rolls of smaller diametEr than the backup roll, orbiting the backup roll in line contact therewith and successively engaging the mass to compact it. 